The World's First Successful Liquid-fueled Rocket Is Launched

March 16, 1926. Dr. Robert H. Goddard is considered to be the father of practical modern rocketry and space flight. In the early part of the 20th century, his experiments with both solid and liquid fueled rockets formed much of the basis of the development of ballistic missiles, earth-orbiting satellites, and interplanetary exploration.

Dr. Goddard was the first to build a successful liquid-fueled rocket which he launched on March 16, 1926, from a field near Worcester, Massachusetts. Although the rocket flew for just 2.5 seconds and rose to a height of only 41 feet, it proved that liquid fuel rockets worked.

Four years later, at Roswell, New Mexico, Dr. Goddard fired a rocket that reached an altitude of 2,000 feet and a speed of 500 miles per hour. His experiments led him to develop many of the devices still used in modern rockets including fuel feeding devices, propellant pumps, and gyroscopic stabilizers, as well as instruments for monitoring rocket flights.